Many scientists believe that the phenomena of ghosts and the accompanying phenomena of poltergeist are a figment of the human imagination. To test this hypothesis, in the early 70s of the last century, the Toronto Society for Psychical Research (Canada) set up an unusual experiment to find out if a conscious artificial creation of a ghost is possible. …
For this, a group of people was gathered who had to come up with an image of some person from the past. It was then supposed to observe whether the members of the group could come into contact with him and receive messages from him or other psychic phenomena. The results of this experiment, which were fully documented, filmed and recorded on tape, were stunning!
A group of six people were tested by doctors and psychologists, and none of the participants in the experiment showed signs of mental abnormalities. This group gets its name from the leader of the Society for Psychical Research, Dr. A. R. G. Owen - Owen's group. It included Owen's wife, who held a senior position in an organization of extremely high IQs, an industrial designer, an accountant, a housewife, an accountant and a sociology student. Psychologist Dr. Joel Whitton also attended most of the sessions as an observer.
The first stage of the group's work, as we already know, was the creation of a fictional character. Together they wrote a short biography of a man named Philip Aylesford. Here it is: “Philip is an English aristocrat who lived in the middle of the 17th century, he was a Catholic and a supporter of the monarchy. He was married to a beautiful but cold woman named Dorothea, the daughter of one of his neighbors. Once, riding out of his domain on horseback, he met a gypsy camp and fell in love with a dark-eyed and black-haired young gypsy woman named Margo. Secretly, he settled his beloved in the house of the gatekeeper, not far from the stables of Diddington Manor - his family home. But the secret was revealed, and Philip's wife, Dorothea, infuriated by what she learned, accused Margot of witchcraft. Philip's reputation was hopelessly damaged, and most of the holdings were lost:with their help, he hoped to save Margot during the witchcraft trial. But Margot was recognized as a witch and burned. Philip was grieving about what had happened and, in despair, wandered all day along the battlements of his ancestral castle until one morning he was found at the foot of the wall, having fallen from a great height, already dying. Owen's group even sketched a portrait of Philip. When the details of Philip's biography and appearance were worked out, and the participants in the experiment remembered them well; started the second stage - contact with a fictitious 'ghost'.fallen from a great height, already dying. Owen's group even sketched a portrait of Philip. When the details of Philip's biography and appearance were worked out, and the participants in the experiment remembered them well; started the second stage - contact with a fictitious 'ghost'.fallen from a great height, already dying. Owen's group even sketched a portrait of Philip. When the details of Philip's biography and appearance were worked out, and the participants in the experiment remembered them well; started the second stage - contact with a fictitious 'ghost'.
In September 1972, the group began their "get-together," as they called it. Discussing Philip, his life, thinking about him. The participants in the experiment tried to visualize their "collective hallucination" as they jokingly called it, presenting Philip in as much detail as possible. This went on for a year, but to no avail.
The group members felt that they would be able to achieve more if they tried to recreate the atmosphere of the seance. They dimmed the light, hung around them pictures with images of ancient castles, like the family estate of Philip, and objects from that era, sat around the table, uttered incantations traditional for such cases … And it worked! During one of the evening sessions, the group received the first message from Philip: there was a distinct knock on the table. Soon Philip was already answering the group's questions - one knock meant "yes", two - "no". When asked about the name of the spirit that appeared, he replied that his name was Philip. The group learned the details of Philip's life. It seemed that he showed some personal traits of character, reporting his preferences and antipathies, about many subjects he had his own opinion. Philip's spirit could also move the table.
The fact that Philip was still a fiction, the fruit of collective creativity, was proved by his limitations. Despite the fact that he accurately answered questions about the events and people of his modern era, he did not reveal any information that was not familiar to members of Owen's group before. In other words, Philip's answers most likely came from the subconscious of the participants in the experiment. Several members of the group believed they heard whispers in response to their questions, but no extraneous voices were recorded on the tape.
With each new session, the power of the artificially created ghost grew. At the request of the group, Philip turned out the light and turned it on. The participants in the experiment found that the table, which almost always became the epicenter of what was happening, in the presence of Philip, seemed to be saturated with some kind of energy, as if it came to life. Mist appeared several times over the center of the table. Sometimes the table literally rushed towards those who for some reason were late for the session, and even tried to "block" them in the corner of the room.
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The culmination of the experiment was a demonstration session conducted in the presence of 50 strangers and television, Philip fully justified the hopes placed on him. In addition to table movements, extraneous sounds in the room, turning on and off the lights, those present even observed the levitation of the table. This was witnessed by the audience and the lenses of television cameras.
The experiment with the "fictitious ghost" Philip gave Owen's group much more than was expected of him, but, unfortunately, they failed to materialize the image of Philip. It was decided to conduct a new experiment with other participants and a new fictional character. Five weeks later, the new group made contact with another ghost - the spy Lilith. Similar experiments "revived" the ghosts of the medieval alchemist Sebastian and even a representative of the future named Axel. All of them were completely fictional characters, but at the same time came into contact with the groups that created them and produced inexplicable phenomena through the movement of objects.
Subsequently, one of the participants in the first experiment, Iris M. Owen, wrote a book about this unique experience - "Calling Philip: A Psychokinetic Adventure", in which she outlined all the details of what happened to the group. A fifteen-minute documentary was filmed about this experiment.
Recently, a group of Australian enthusiasts tried to replicate the experience of Canadians. Six participants came up with the story of a 14-year-old Australian girl named Skippy Cartman. According to the band members, Skippy communicated with them through foot movements and different sounds.
What conclusions can be drawn from these experiments? In contrast to those who are sure that ghosts are nothing more than a figment of our imagination or the reaction of the unconscious to some external, quite ordinary stimulus, there is another point of view. Some parapsychologists have expressed the opinion that although Philip was fictional, Owen's group actually came into contact with the mysterious world of spirits: some "playful" ghost - used the seances conducted by the group to make contact with people, albeit under a false name.
Be that as it may, experiments have shown that paranormal phenomena are quite real. And like many such studies, they left behind more questions than answers about the world in which we live.